LEADER 04249nam 2200709 a 450 001 9910827324203321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a0-262-29071-5 010 $a1-282-89931-7 010 $a9786612899317 010 $a0-262-29410-9 035 $a(CKB)2560000000053535 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000430519 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11301614 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000430519 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10456212 035 $a(PQKB)10020316 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3339172 035 $a(CaBNVSL)mat06267526 035 $a(IDAMS)0b000064818b456e 035 $a(IEEE)6267526 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3339172 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10424687 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL289931 035 $a(OCoLC)671647741 035 $a(PPN)258204109 035 $a(EXLCZ)992560000000053535 100 $a20090814d2010 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 12$aA vast machine $ecomputer models, climate data, and the politics of global warming /$fPaul N. Edwards 205 $a1st ed. 210 $aCambridge, Mass. $cMIT Press$dc2010 215 $axxvii, 518 p. $cill., maps 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 $a0-262-51863-5 311 $a0-262-01392-4 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [441]-507) and index. 327 $aThinking globally -- Global space, universal time : seeing the planetary atmosphere -- Standards and networks : international meteorology and the Reseau Mondial -- Climatology and climate change before World War II -- Friction -- Numerical weather prediction -- The infinite forecast -- Making global data -- The first WWW -- Making data global -- Data wars -- Reanalysis : the do-over -- Parametrics and the limits of knowledge -- Simulation models and atmospheric politics, 1960-1992 -- Signal and noise : consensus, controversy, and climate change. 330 $aGlobal warming skeptics often fall back on the argument that the scientific case for global warming is all model predictions, nothing but simulation; they warn us that we need to wait for real data, "sound science." In A Vast Machine Paul Edwards has news for these doubters: without models, there are no data. Today, no collection of signals or observations--even from satellites, which can "see" the whole planet with a single instrument--becomes global in time and space without passing through a series of data models. Everything we know about the world's climate we know through models. Edwards offers an engaging and innovative history of how scientists learned to understand the atmosphere--to measure it, trace its past, and model its future. Edwards argues that all our knowledge about climate change comes from three kinds of computer models: simulation models of weather and climate; reanalysis models, which recreate climate history from historical weather data; and data models, used to combine and adjust measurements from many different sources. Meteorology creates knowledge through an infrastructure (weather stations and other data platforms) that covers the whole world, making global data. This infrastructure generates information so vast in quantity and so diverse in quality and form that it can be understood only by computer analysis--making data global. Edwards describes the science behind the scientific consensus on climate change, arguing that over the years data and models have converged to create a stable, reliable, and trustworthy basis for the reality of global warming. 606 $aWeather forecasting 606 $aClimatology$xHistory 606 $aMeteorology$xHistory 606 $aClimatology$xTechnological innovations 606 $aGlobal temperature changes 615 0$aWeather forecasting. 615 0$aClimatology$xHistory. 615 0$aMeteorology$xHistory. 615 0$aClimatology$xTechnological innovations. 615 0$aGlobal temperature changes. 676 $a551.63 700 $aEdwards$b Paul N$0884488 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910827324203321 996 $aA vast machine$94096515 997 $aUNINA